Neal Schon’s New Solo EP Includes Two Journey Covers

Months after Journey's simmering internal feud boiled over in public, founding guitarist Neal Schon has emerged with a new solo EP – and it includes updates of two of the band's most recognizable hits.

Titled Ave Maria, the project features the Schubert-composed title track, the Elvis Presley favorite "Can't Help Falling in Love," and new versions of "Open Arms" and "Faithfully." Schon is touting it as his first-ever holiday release. The EP is available through schonmusic.com, where fans can get an instant download of "Ave Maria." It can also be streamed on Spotify (below) and Apple Music.

"Open Arms," a No. 2 Billboard smash from 1981's Escape, was co-written by Steve Perry and Jonathan Cain. "Faithfully," a No. 12 hit which served as the lead ballad from 1983's Frontiers, was composed solely by Cain.

Schon and Cain were at the center of Journey's issues earlier this year, beginning with a disagreement over the role of religion in their music. The guitarist then took his bandmates to task, primarily via Twitter, over a summer White House visit which they made without him. Politics, he argued, didn't have a place in Journey, either. Cain's wife is a pastor and spiritual advisor to President Donald Trump.

Schon has been quiet on social media more recently, though back in November – possibly while he was finishing Ave Maria – the guitarist tweeted that he was "deeply in artistic mode." This solo EP follows 2015's Vortex; the prolific Schon also issued So U in 2014 and The Calling in 2012.